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to bombard

to bombard

39 5.6
To give someone many questions or messages quickly
  • verb
  • /bɑmˈbɑrd/
translation icon : bombardear con
  • During the meeting, I was bombarded with requests for updates on the project.
  • bombarded with questions
  • bombarded with information
  • bombarded with messages

It's just it's so we're bombarded by so much.

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Examples

  • A day hardly passes that we are not bombarded with many different kinds of statistics.

    Academic text (2007)
  • The corporate world has been bombarded with literature emphasizing the value of people.

    Academic text (2013)
  • We bombard them with the same thing over and over.

  • And so like we need to desperately bombard the conversation.

  • I mean, our kids get bombarded by a lot of negative stuff.

  • And I know that means asking you another question but I don't want to bombard you.

  • I feel like I'm bombarding you with my words.

  • Students at all educational levels are daily bombarded by others' attempts to influence them.

    Academic text (2006)
  • By the time she got home that day, Jaine had been bombarded with phone calls.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Educators everywhere in America are bombarded by complaints of diminishing student achievement.

    Academic text (1993)

Synonyms

to badger
vsto bombard
39 4.7

To annoy someone by asking them the same thing many times

is more forceful and overwhelming than mild repeated annoyance
to pester
vsto bombard
34 3.2

To annoy someone by asking for things again and again

is stronger and more overwhelming than simple repeated annoyance
to bombard with
vsto bombard
13 5.7

To give someone many questions or requests at the same time

is about directing a continuous stream at someone rather than occasional acts
to besiege
vsto bombard
12 7.8

To surround a person with many requests and questions

emphasizes a continuous stream of questions rather than general surrounding pressure
to deluge
vsto bombard
5 7.4

To give someone so much work or so many requests that they cannot cope

stresses a continuous directed stream rather than a single large batch
to barrage
vsto bombard
3 7.8

To send a large fast stream of questions or messages to someone

is aimed at a person with many questions, requests, or messages
1 5.5

Ask someone many quick questions until they cannot answer easily

is used for a continuous stream of questions, not only single interruptions

Antonyms

1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

Phrasal Verbs

To give someone many questions or requests at the same time

Ask someone many quick questions until they cannot answer easily

How Overwhelming

to overwhelm
88 3.9
to bombard
39 5.6
to pepper
20 5.5
to pester
34 3.2
to ask
1.0

Surface Forms

bombard infinitive
bombarded past
bombarded past participle
bombarding present participle
bombards third person singular

Morphology

bombard = bomb (semi-transparent) = bomb + ard

This sense is a figurative extension (a relentless stream directed at someone); learners can map the idea from 'bomb' metaphorically but the formation is not a regular productive English pattern.

Etymology

Bombard is also used when someone is hit by a steady stream of words, questions, or messages, as if under a shower of small bombs. So when reporters 'bombard' a person with questions, they overwhelm them with many things at once.